French extreme-rightwing politician, founder of the National Front (FN) in 1972 and leader until 2011. His skill as a public speaker, his demagogic mixing of nationalism with law-and-order populism – calling for immigrant repatriation, stricter nationality laws, and the restoration of capital punishment – and his hostility to the European Union attracted a wide swathe of electoral support in the 1980s and 1990s. Although he progressed to the run-off round in the 2002 presidential election, he was heavily defeated by Jacques Chirac , and in the first round of the 2007 presidential election he was eliminated in fourth place. In 2011, his youngest daughter, Marine Le Pen , took over leadership of the FN and broadened support for the party, winning 18% of the vote and finishing third in the April 2012 first round of the presidential election. The FN, under Le Pen, won 14% of the national vote in the 1986 National Assembly elections and 15% in 1997. Le Pen's 1988 and 1995 presidential bids…